Angel Hiding
by testTUBE10
Summary: Nobody wanted Nico di Angelo. Nobody liked him. Those who did were all dead, his family, friends, even his boyfriend. All dead, and he would soon follow- unless he escaped to a new world to meet new people, the wizards. (#Demigod #Hogwarts)
1. Author's Note

**This will be a story centered on Nico di Angelo.**

**Summary: **

Nico di Angelo was an unwanted child from the day he was born. He was unlucky and sullen and useless. His mother and sister were both dead, his boyfriend also dead, his sister hated him. Nico felt as if his life couldn't get any worse. He was wrong. The gods decided he had to die. Nico went to hide at Hogwarts.

**Timeline**: Book 5 of the Harry Potter series and after the HOO series for Percy Jackson. Nico di Angelo, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger will be 15 years old.

There will be no romance if possible, if there is romance I will only stick to canon matches.

If there are any grammar mistakes or information different from the books in this story, tell me and I'll fix it.I appreciate it. Please have an enjoyable read!


	2. Chapter 1 Framed

"I haven't done anything!" Nico yelled desperately. "It wasn't me! It wasn't-"

"It was you! Who else would have destroyed the camp?" The King of the Gods roared, bearing his gigantic bronze lightning bolt in one hand. He partially stood up from his throne, glaring at Nico. His eyes were grey and stormy, filled with rage.

Nico went silent. He put his hands in his pockets, gritting his teeth. It wasn't him, he wouldn't do such a thing. Yes, his boyfriend had died on a quest and he had been mad, but he wouldn't ever destroy Camp Half-Blood. It was his home.

His old home. He hadn't been there when it was destroyed. He didn't know how, he didn't know why. All he knew was that that thing had been powerful enough to take on all of the half-bloods at camp, including Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. It had been capable of killing them both.

He winced, remembering the enormous amount of death energy that had been unleashed during that time. Everyone had been annihilated.

_It wasn't me._

He glanced around the room, taking in the sight of all of the gods, twenty times bigger than he was, sitting on their thrones. All mad, all suspicious of him. Most were fingering their weapons, a select few looked uneasy. Apollo had actually taken out his bow, nocked an arrow to it, and was aiming it at him.

He sensed a deep aura of death cloaking his body, felt the shadows slink closer to him as if they were protective armor. Everyone else looked even more disgusted.

_Of course. I'm hated everywhere._

The ones with the least amount of anger towards him, he could feel, was Athena, Poseidon, and Artemis. The Goddess of Wisdom was biting her bottom lip as if thinking. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap, a book opened up on it.

Poseidon was angry, Nico could feel it, but also slightly relieved. Why? Nico wondered. It couldn't be he was relieved he was alive. Color flooded into his cheeks. The God of the Seas held his trident loosely and seemed calmer than everybody else. Water circled around him.

Artemis just gazed at him pityingly, sadly. He hated that look. It cut through him like a fiery blade.

This is just how everything works, he reminded himself, ignoring the burning feeling of self-hate building up inside him. This is just how it is. He twisted his skull ring for a split second before stopping.

Nico glared back into the eyes of Zeus, knowing it was futile. The King of the Gods would believe what he wanted to believe. Nico couldn't stop him.

"All in favor?" Zeus boomed.

The King of the Gods raised his lightning bolt as Nico closed his eyes. There was loud crackling sounds as if he was at a July fireworks festival, making him smile sadly. Will. The other Olympians sounded their agreement, raising their hands. Only Athena refused.

Then Nico remembered. Did he see the fates? Did he? He closed his eyes.

* * *

He tumbled out of the shadows, almost immediately rolling himself into a ball. He remembered what he had said before he shadow-traveled. 'Where the gods can't find me." Nico didn't know if he had achieved that purpose. He lifted his gaze upwards, relaxing, though constantly on alert just in case.

_Where am I?_

His expression was carefully guarded, his hair a mess. Nico rubbed his eyes, then shielded them. It was way too bright. The floor was grassy, the shadows supplied by a dirty white building stained grey.

That was a surprise. He had expected to appear at about an alleyway or a corner, not such a revealed wide-open space. Nico didn't move.

_Is this Australia? Please tell me this country speaks English..._

Nico stood up shakily, still feeling a bit turned-over at what he had just encountered. He fumbled for some ambrosia, taking out a carefully-hidden packet in his jacket. Should he eat it? He hesitated to pop in his mouth for just a second. He didn't know where he could get some more.

The sunlight stung his eyes, making him scowl. He tried to walk but his legs gave out under him. He decided to just eat it. He couldn't go anywhere like this. Pathetic. He pinched out just a bit of the godly food then slowly chewed, savoring the taste. Energy filled his body and warmth flooded him, allowing him to stand up straight. Thank the gods for ambrosia, or rather don't.

His legs started to work again. He sighed. Looking back up, the sky was gray and smoky. Grey and white buildings were everywhere around him, telling him he was in the city. Not America, definitely.

Cars beeped and motorcycles roared down the roads, people walked around on the streets.

Nico picked himself up and walked along with them, submerged in the crowd.

It was what he did best. Hiding.


	3. Chapter 2 King's Cross

It was in the afternoon. The sun glared, people bustled and the wind went by. Nico grasped his aviator jacket closer to his chest. His back was hunched, his arms were crossed. A scowl crossed his face. Nico had never liked crowds.

He looked around, searching for some kind of landmark, a reason why the shadows transported him there. It didn't look anything special, just another city. The closest building he could see was a railroad station, a big yellow one with a clock on the top tower.

The building that had supplied the shadows he had appeared from. That was it. There was definitely something going in inside that station. Nico steeled himself before walking through the gates.

Everything was ordinary, he noticed. Nothing unusual was going on. No monsters either. No godly statues, no out-of-place energy.

Passing the ticket stand, he picked up a paper guide, curious where he was. It was thankfully written in English. If it wasn't, Nico didn't know what he would do. The person on duty barely glanced at him slink away with the paper firmly clutched in his hand.

"King's Cross." he read. "London." He raised his eyebrows, surprised by his location. London. Well, that was much farther than he had expected.

He walked around, looking for something, anything, but everything was perfectly normal. It was up to the point that Nico wondered if it was a mistake.

Then it happened.

Tired, Nico was just going back to the entrance to take a burger or something. He was getting hungry, he hadn't eaten for a day. It was then when he saw it. People.

But not ordinary people. People wearing black robes and pointy hats, shoving carts filled with things. Owls squawked from inside their metal cages, books filled the cart, and... Nico squinted, was that a cauldron?

There were kids, similar in age to him with their parents, in the exact same outfit. Now that Nico noticed, there were _more_.

They looked like...

"Witches." He said aloud, his face hardening. So that was why he was here. All of those people in cloaks had to be connected to something.

He partially cloaked himself in the shadows and used the crowd as a shield, his eyes scanning the group. They finally rested on a girl. A girl with dreamy, off-focus eyes. Perfect.

Where were they all going? Nico wondered. It was still in the afternoon. According to the clock, it was a quarter past eleven.

He started to follow her.

The girl kept walking forward, chatting with a man who Nico assumed was her father. She smiled after a while, then stopped. Nico stopped walking and looked around.

Platform nine. Were they going to board the train-

He blinked. The girl had disappeared. He could have sworn she was there a second ago. Where did she go?

His eyes narrowed on another girl accompanied by her parents. This time, he wouldn't lose her. He stared at the girl as she also smiled and talked with her parents.

"Yes, go on." Her parents seemed to be saying. "Yes!"

He saw the girl run forward with her cart. She was right in front of the barrier between nine and ten, he almost closed his eyes to wince, then reminded himself he shouldn't. He was ready for the sickening crash.

That didn't happen. The girl had disappeared. Nico's eyes widened.

The parents turned back to leave, chatting to themselves enthusiastically. What was that?

The girl had disappeared, just like the girl before her.

A mechanism? And by the looks of it, it was a transporting mechanism. But transporting to where? And how?

If it turned out he needed something to use the transporting mechanism or if the device checked his identity before activating, he was going to be pissed.

More people in pointy hats were starting to appear. Nico decided to take the chance. He'd spent a lot of his life running into walls anyway.

He took a deep breath and ran.

_The gods hate me anyway._

The change was immediate, so immediate in fact, that Nico wondered how it would look like if he had just one foot in the wall. It was nothing like shadow travel.

Suddenly he was in another place, another station, one with only one train. Smoke billowed, light shattered the whole image. The train was fire engine red, along with a sign saying 'Platform 9 and 3/4'. Nico blinked. He was right. It must have been a magic device or something. Every one of the people there were wearing cloaks and pointy hats.

_Where am I? What's happening?_

And the thing that really puzzled him the most was that the people there were mostly families.

Girls and boys, people older than him and younger, the train was filled with dozens of _children_. He winced at the image of a little boy hugging his parents and big sister good bye. His parents were crying, his mother was wiping tears away with a handkerchief. His sister waved cheerfully at him. It was so painful he had to looked away. He shuddered. That had brought up memories he didn't want to remember again.

Were they being taken away? For what reason?

The boy had a cart filled with books. He lugged it up onto the train and waved to his parents again. "I'll make sure to bring back some butterbeer!" he called enthusiastically. "No need!" The father called back cheerily. Watching the boy with a hint of sadness on his face, Nico was so immersed in the scene that he didn't notice anyone behind him.

"Hey! Stop blocking the entrance, will you?"

Startled, Nico swung around, a scowl on his face. He stepped to the right in a grudging manner, slinking back into the crowd like a street cat.

A redhead popped out of the barrier, looking around curiously, annoyed. Nico watched him silently.

"Hey! Harry!" He called.

Nico went away. The clock chimed several times. There were ten minutes left until it was eleven, and the train released steam. The most unpleasant thought struck Nico, that just maybe, the train might be preparing to leave.

He saw even more kids in pointy hats board the train, clutching their luggage. Should he ride the train too? Maybe he should. A flurry of questions bombarded his head and Nico quickly forced himself to stop thinking.

He ran to the rear end of the train. If he wanted to get on unnoticed, the rear should be the best. Nico stepped lightly onto the train and walked slowly inside. He didn't see anybody yet. He looked out of the open door.

Nobody noticed him.

The train hooted again. More steam. "Monica!" He heard somebody yell. "Have a good time at hog warts!"

Hog warts? Nico took a minute to process what he had heard. Pig warts. No, it must have been a mistake.

A man in a pointy hat and a green robe started to wave at the window. Nico peered at him, remembering who he was. He was that man with the dreamy-eyed girl. But the girl wasn't there. Was she on the train?

That just gave rise to a whole new set of questions.

He finally sighed and walked away from the window. Some answers, he reminded himself, would be revealed with time. It was no good to be so impatient. There weren't many people. The hall was empty, the train was quiet.

He saw the open door of a compartment and stepped inside.


	4. Chapter 3 The Train

Nico found himself face-to-face with a pale, dreamy-eyed girl with silvery hair. She was looking straight at him. He stood still for a moment and tensed, thinking that the girl had seen him.

His hand grasped the handle of his sword cloaked in the shadows, he prepared to strike if necessary. The girl did not move. She didn't say anything.

A closer look at her eyes reassured him. Dreamy and out-of-focus, Nico doubted that the girl had noticed him and, relieved, he sat down. She was daydreaming.

The door quietly swung closed behind him. The girl still didn't move.

Palms supporting her chin, she glassily looked inwards towards the compartment door. Her chin quivered but her breathing was steady. The girl was fingering the frayed edges of a magazine thoughtlessly: Nico could see that the pictures were moving as she did so. He frowned, but stayed silent.

The train hadn't started to move yet- all Nico could see outside was steam and an empty platform. The girl's father had left, or Nico assumed it was her father. He didn't know.

The compartment was neat, simple, not much was out of the ordinary. Places for luggage under the seats, a table; he quickly lost interest.

His eyes went, instead, to the girl.

On a closer look, everything about the girl just screamed reject- her necklace of caps, her red earrings. He wasn't sure, but he guessed that she was an oddball. That also explained why she was sitting in the rear on her own.

And she wasn't blinking at all. Definitely daydreaming, Nico thought. He groaned.

Every part of his body ached, even his soul now that he paid attention. It had been so long since he had gotten some rest, it hurt. He was hungry. Nico wished he had snagged some McDonalds before coming to the train. But it was too late now.

The train started to hoot, Nico started to feel a bit bored He was just sitting there, alert and tense, yes, but he simply couldn't see anything that might be a threat.

His mind wandered. Thoughts of the ruined camp lighted again in his mind, he remembered the dead. It was enough to make him feel a bit sick.

A shudder involuntarily went up his body, he almost coughed. It was because he wasn't doing anything, he thought. Suddenly he wished for something to keep his mind off the camp, off his friends.

He cursed. He twisted his skull ring, trying to control the emotional turmoil inside of him.

At least fighting monsters took his mind off things.

He sighed, looking back at the girl to make sure she still hadn't seen him. Unknown to him, the shadows were enveloping him, shrouding him in the corner and making him near impossible to see. But Nico didn't know that.

He watched as she daydreamed. _Who was she? Where was the train heading?_

The door opened with a start. The silver-haired girl blinked, as if momentarily startled out of her trance. Nico didn't react.

A boy wearing a red-trimmed black robe stood there, looking pretty surprised himself. He stood there for a few seconds, looking at Luna. He looked nervous, fidgeting.

Nico studied him, half relieved, half curious. He was clutching a struggling toad in one hand. It croaked. He shut the door again with a crack.

The girl, previously startled, now started to hum. " Nargles," she muttered. "Bullies,"

He started to wonder what 'Nargles' were.

Nico turned, feeling a little sleepy. He scanned the girl again, not sure if he was safe.

_Sleep?_ He wondered, then, _Demigods are never safe anyway._

He went on his side and closed his eyes. No, he didn't know where he was, but it didn't look very dangerous. No death auras, and he hadn't seen anything potentially life- threatening. He curled up into a ball.

There was no telling what was ahead, he thought sleepily, but there wasn't always time to rest, and he was exhausted. He would just take a quick nap...

Nico woke up with a start.

There was a weight, a rather uncomfortable pressure on his side. He heard someone's breath tickle his arm, letting him know something alive was there, next to him. Surprised and on alert, he stood up. His hand was on his sword handle, drinking in the shadows around him, ready to fight.

"Bloody hell?" A voice said, in a British accent. It was kind of muffled as if his mouth was full.

Nico almost slid his sword out of the scabbard, spinning around. An attack? He thought wildly. He scanned the compartment, his expression guarded.

To his relief, there were no monsters. Instead, there were a bunch of kids, all wearing old fashioned black, looking very surprised. They all stared at Nico, as if expecting him to sprout purple feathers from his face any minute.

_Monsters would be better,_ he thought, uncomfortable.

He sat back down, a little relaxed, but not completely. His eyes glanced around, not impressed, but annoyed instead. This had to be a weird bunch.

There were three girls, all seated, down, with surprised expressions on their faces. One of them was in the far left corner, her bushy hair making her look, he thought dryly, kind of like a big baby ostrich. She was wearing a red and black checkered vest. There was a redhead girl sitting next to her, younger than him, he sensed, with a colorful box in her hands. Candy, most likely. He didn't want to read the label. She wore an shirt with frills that made her look out of season. The last one was the silver-haired girl from before, seated opposite from him.

Seated next to him were three boys, one was the boy who had opened the compartment door a while ago, looking nervous, clutching his toad as if it was a rubber ducky. The other was someone completely new, another redhead with freckles, gaping.

But the last one, Nico caught his breath. He steadied himself, trying to shove the memory out of his mind. He couldn't speak. He was just like... _Percy._

Yeah, more rugged bangs, over sized glasses and a younger look, except for that...

The boy caught Nico staring at him, looking uncomfortable. Nico immediately looked away. The boy looked at him curiously, Nico could feel his eyes on him.

_Oh, Hades._

"Who are you?" One of the girls demanded, she blinked. "And why are you wearing that weird getup?

_Oh, I must look suspicious... I should_ _do something about it soon_.

"Nico di Angelo," He answered coolly, avoiding the second question altogether. "And can you tell me your names?"

She frowned slightly, then nodded, as if it was normal question to ask. She cleared her throat. "Hermione Granger, thank you very much. This is Ron," she pointed to the red haired kid. He just kept on munching something, not listening. Hermione carried on,

"Ginny," the red haired girl raised her hand tentatively, "Neville," the guy with the toad nodded, hands still tightly gripping his toad to death.

"And-"

"Luna Lovegood." Dreamy voiced, the silver-haired girl smiled at him.

Nico didn't ask about the other boy. He didn't want to know.

He didn't say anything, his jacket around him, shadows bending around him menacingly. It was silent.

Only now did Nico notice all of the candy boxes and wrappers strewn around him. Cluttering up the entire compartment, he angrily brushed aside a wrapper on his pantleg.

Ron gulped down the rest of whatever was in his mouth.

"Dude! Are you always this tense, or," he began rudely, "Hey!"

Hermione slapped him.

Nico glared at him to shut him up. Ron stuffed a pastry in his mouth, mumbling about pumpkins.

"I'm hungry," the black haired boy suddenly said, moving a cage, was that an owl? Nico was sure it hadn't been there before. He stowed it next to another owl, white and beautiful, both inside of their cages.

He sounded exhausted as he took a large bite out of a pastry.

_How long was the nap?_

Ron stuffed a chocolate frog inside of his mouth. He ripped off the wrapper, bit off the frog's moving head and closed his eyes relaxedly. Nico saw the frog struggle.

It was quiet for a moment, then Hermione said, "There's the prefects you know, and guess who's..." She hesitated for a second, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.

"Yeah, Slytherin's prefect. Can't believe it's Malfoy, he'll be bothering us all year." Ron snorted, oblivious.

Hermione looked at Nico warily. Seeing he showed no reaction, she sighed. "And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson, what was Professor Dumbledore thinking!"

"Malfoy?" The black haired boy groaned.

The atmosphere was still tense, a little less than before but still tense. Nico guessed this was probably because of him.

"Hey, we better put on our robes soon," Hermione said. Nico frowned, robes?

Hermione started to look around her trunk, rummaging. She almost got knocked over, there was a hooting sound, and she stood back up, ruffled.

"Later, Hermione," Ron said, "We've still got loads of time."

"Probably." Hermione sat back down, a sigh on her face.

Nico stood up and opened the door, stepping outside. Slytherin? Prefect? He would ask around. He sighed. Seriously, where was he? And robes? Was that something people wore there?

Now he'd left, he must have been a perfect topic for them. Next to the door he could hear Ron say,

""Seriously creepy, I almost sat on him,"

Then a new voice joined the fray, "I can't believe I didn't notice him at all! He was right there-"

"Me neither," said the black haired boy,

"Wonder what house he's in?"

"Creepy," said Hermione, she sounded reluctant, "but I suppose it's because we don't know him," and the empty drawl of Luna:

"I don't think he's creepy at all..." Her voice sounded distant, "It's the Nargles, they like mischief,"

Nico kept walking, ignoring them now. He didn't come out to eavesdrop- he was out for something else. And although he could collect information, he would rather do that later.

Sounds of joyous chatter went about, the train rattled on its wheels as distant hooting sounded. Clouds of fog buried the windows, blocking the view. Now he reckoned, he was at least not at the end of the compartments.

Around the middle, in fact. There was so much chatter it was noisy. Nico waited.

"Yeah, Laurin, I'll come back!" He heard someone say, then one of the compartment doors slid open quietly.

It was the one on the left side, one filled with boys, he could tell by the shadows. He stood there, concealed in the shadows.

A boy walked out, with smooth pale blonde hair and a slim figure. He held a peculiar wooden stick in his hand and walked lightly, inevitably glad to be there on the train.

He didn't seem to notice him, walking along. Nico took note of his small size and stature.

Not that all different from him, he mused.

He went silently towards him. The boy didn't hear him coming He yawned, his feet unsteady against the moving track. Grinning, Nico took out his fist as he smacked the boy unconscious.

He crumpled to the ground, his legs folding under him like a sack of potatoes. Nico felt satisfied as he looked at the boy critically, making sure he wasn't actually dead. Except for the dent in his head, you could swear he was sleeping.

He quickly undid the boy's robe, laced with green, then cursed when he realized he was wearing a complete uniform. Uniforms? He thought unhappily, why uniforms? He already disliked robes, now he was going to have to take off his aviator's jacket?

_Not likely._

He grimaced, no time to waste. He dragged the boy with him into a changing cubicle.

He studied him, poked him a little. His uniform was a little different from the kids before, he thought. Green instead of red. He hoped it didn't matter and put it on.

_Now, what do I do with the evidence_?


	5. Chapter 4 Accidental Slytherin

Nico walked down to the previous compartment, a bit relieved now that he had a robe and cloak. He could fit in, and nobody would ask any questions. He fingered the collar, a name tag? He almost ripped it out right there, then saw the name wasn't stitched on, he could simply replace it.

He studied it for a while, thinking about the name.

Draco Malfoy. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where he heard the name before. Draco. Draco. But the name was familiar...

Oh, right. Nico remembered. Ron said that Malfoy was a prefect, whatever that was. Was it him?

There were also badges pinned on near the collar, but he let them stay. Everyone was wearing at keast one badge, he also ought to.

"Draco!" he heard a yell, "Draco! Are you still in the ruddy WC right now?" A voice cried out angrily, it was feminine and very faint, as if far away. The voice stopped after a while. Nico ignored it.

He shrugged, couldn't be helped. His expression was grim. He slid open the door to his compartment and sat down, feeling kind of satisfied.

Hermione stared at him. It was a very complicated look, mixed in with dread, anger, and curiosity. Ron stopped in the middle of wearing his robes. A badge was pinned on their chests, saying something.

Perefec? Perfec? He squinted, straining to read it properly. Prefect.

The same badge that was on his chest.

He should have gotten rid of it as soon as he could, he thought angrily. Stupid! Twisting his body to the left so they couldn't see him, he carefully pried it off and slipped it into his pocket.

By their tones, a prefect should be kind of rare, he had gathered at least that much from the previous conversation. He hunched his back, hoping they hadn't noticed.

_Awkward_.

All conversation had ceased. Ron looked disturbed. Guess he couldn't question them anymore. Styx.

What was it, he wondered. They were perfectly fine with him before he put on the robe. Uncomfortable and tense, but it hadn't been to this degree. Nico could feel their eyes of hate and anger, of confusion and resentment burning into him. Hermione looked surprised. He glared back.

If there was one thing he was good at, it had to be glaring. In an instant, all of the kids looked away, terrified. This wasn't the plan, he thought, uneasy. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Hey," Luna drawled. "So you're from Slytherin, huh? Don't worry, I don't have much prejudice or hate against you. Though they do, they're fine once you come to know them."

The black haired boy stared at Luna as if she was crazy. Neville looked nervous, but he nodded shyly. Hermione crossed her arms. Only Ginny looked unperturbed, her expression bored, as if this was all normal.

Nico stuck even closer to the wall, shadows hugging him deeper.

Slytherin, he thought. He didn't know what that was, but he would remember that word. Slytherin. He was from now on, in Slytherin.

And, he supposed, looking at the other kids, that wasn't a good thing.

Everyone was wearing robes. None of them were green like his- their badges didn't have snakes on them either. Instead, they were red with griffin badges pinned on top.

He felt a little foolish. Only Luna's cloak was a different color, hers was blue instead of red. Damn it, he thought. Of course he had to be unlucky enough to accidentally get the green robes, nothing was ever easy.

"Harry, your badge isn't on straight," Hermione said to the black haired boy, "Fix it up properly."

So his name was Harry. He watched as the boy scrambled to fix his badge that was awkwardly dangling from the side of his robe. Finally he got to know his name. And was it just a feeling? Now that he was directly looking at him, it was as if the boy radiated death.

He looked closer, curious. Why didn't he sense it sooner?

It was as if he was tied to death. The string started from around his forehead and lead off into the distance. He watched Harry, a painful feeling growing inside.

So he was connected to someone or something by death, was he? And a piece of a torn soul was contained inside him, too. So much pain inside, and he still stood loyal with his friends... _Percy_.

It was a very quiet ride. The train began to slow down after a while, Nico looked out the windows in curiosity but failed to see anything. It was a moonless night but that didn't trouble him- children of Hades could see well in the dark. The windows were grimy and rain-streaked, murky fog was all around the train.

There was a big racket as people were moving about, and the heavy atmosphere in the compartment collapsed as if a giant bubble popped.

Nico watched the kids go around frantically, picking up cages and taking out their stuff.

Everyone scrambled for their luggage and prepared to go outside. Neville was the first to exit, then Ron and Hermione also left hurriedly.

_Was there a need to hurry?_

Nico climbed down the stairs, coughing because if the smoke. Half of him wanted to shadow travel out, he hated bodily contact and it was so crowded at the train. An assortment of creatures in cages were led out, pulled in trolleys by children who looked around his age.

He whirled around.

"First years line up over here, please! First years!" A female voice called out loudly. Responding to the call, some of the children, the youngest ones, started to deviate from the crowd and go over to the voice, who Nico could see was at the edge of a lake.

First years, he thought. So they sort them by age here.

The rest kept walking, chattering to each other as they wheeled their trolleys away. A forest was on his left, he was walking on a knobbly road that tripped up a lot of children

He looked up.

A black castle was ahead, not too big, but then it was kind of far ahead. He wasn't sure. It was also black and dark, clouds covering the tops of the four towers looking like a menacing storm.

He approved. It looked homely. He passed a line of carriages, then more carriages, some were moving and some were not. He wondered how they would look like in the moonlight. They were all pulled by the most beautiful creatures Nico had ever seen.

Midnight black and fleshless, bony horse-like creatures with a dragonoid head and white pupils. Wings sprouted from their backs, long, gorgeous, leathery batlike wings which he so wanted to touch.

Nico couldn't help but stare. The crowd got thinner as more and more kids climbed into the carriages, there were fewer and fewer of them now.

He went up close to one, smiling softly as it nuzzled him, neighing. He couldn't understand what it was saying, but the sound comforted him, the creature smelled like home.

He was getting puzzled looks but he didn't care. It had been so long since he saw a creature from the underworld, and it had been so long ever since he was welcomed.

It looked gratefully and curiously at Nico, then it pounded it's hooves into the ground as if telling him to get on inside the carriage. It snorted. _Stop making a fool of yourself!_ He imagined it saying.

Nico gave it a firm pat, then nodded as he climbed inside.


End file.
